Practice
by shipper-swabbie
Summary: Finn says thanks to Rachel after she spends all those late nights teaching him that elusive "High B". Finn/Rachel Friendship. Romantic if you want it to be. No Spoilers. Rated for mild language and slightly suggestive themes, LJ Prompt.


**A/N:** Hey, Folks! This is my First Glee fanfic. It was actually a LJ prompt: FAIL! I couldn't help it. It's 21 stories for 21 days hiatus challenge. I hope I write more! It'll be hard though. I'm already a day behind...

**Disclaimer:** Glee is not mine. If it was, Terri would not exist and Rachel could be with Puck AND Finn.

Enjoy!

-

"Thanks for helping me out again, Rachel. I'll get that high B some day." Finn said, stretching out after an hour and a half of vocal practice with Rachel Berry.

"Yes. You will, if you practice it."

"Right...You know Rachel, I've been meaning to thank you for all this time you've been putting in to help me..."

Rachel looked up from her sheet music, to Finn. He was starting to blush.

"And I've been trying to think of something I could do for you to show how grateful I am.."

Rachel could think of a few things he could do _to_ her. She bit her lip in anticipation, "Yes?" she said, encouraging this line of thought.

"And I've always found it easier to show someone how I feel, rather than tying to tell them..."

Rachel sat up straight in the piano bench and inched closer to where Finn was standing, "Yes?" She repeated, hopeful.

"So, Rachel Berry, will you..."

_Be my girlfriend? Run away with me? Have my babies? Yes. Yes! YES!_

"Yes!"

"Really? Awesome! I think you'll really love football! I'll teach you everything I know. How about we meet at the practice field tomorrow at 8:00 AM sharp?"

He wanted to teach her how to play football. In October. At eight AM. Oh.

"Oh..." She said sadly, slumping on the bench and looking at the floor for a moment before regarding Finn.

Maybe Rachel wasn't a big sports fan, but she was a big Finn fan, so she was willing to tolerate football if it meant some quality time with Finn.

After all, Rachel was performer, she could pretend to be excited about this. "Sure Finn," she said forcing a smile, "I'll meet you at the field tomorrow morning!"

"Awesome! Thanks again, Rach!" He said, kissing the top of her head in a painfully platonic manner.

"Oh, and dress warm! They're calling for frost tomorrow." He called to her as he hopped off the stage and gave an exaggerated wave goodnight.

"Yeah, _awesome..._" She sighed to herself, packing up sheet music and slumping home. Apparently she had an early morning tomorrow.

-

Rachel was early, as usual. That was to be expected. What wasn't expected is that Finn was already at the practice field when she arrived.

"Wow," Rachel said watching the steam from her mouth dissipate into the brisk morning air, "You must of really been looking forward to this, Finn. No one ever beats me to a practice."

"'Morning, Rachel!" Finn answered far more enthusiastic than he should be for such a cold, early morning. "Of course I'm looking forward to this! Can you catch, Rach?"

The morning went by pretty quickly. They warmed up with some catch and then a quick debriefing of the basic rules and regulations of the sport.

By the time Finn had finished summarizing, Rachel learned how to throw a perfect spiral.

She was actually enjoying herself when Finn finally suggested kicking a field goal. Rachel was excited about this part. If Kurt could do it, she was confident that she could be at least half decent at it.

"OK, Rachel. I'll hold the ball like this here, and you run up to it and give it your best shot."

Rachel stood about ten feet behind Finn who was propping the football up on some plastic block, watching her carefully. She couldn't stop herself from asking, "Did you bring Beyoncé, or was that supposed to be my job?"

Finn chuckled lightly in return, "I think you should try it solo, at least once. We'll see how it goes and then maybe we'll call in the reinforcements."

"OK... Ready, Finn?"

"Bring it, baby!"

"Alright-" She leaned forward for the run, but paused once more at the last second.

"Come on, Rach! We're gonna miss breakfast at McDonald's if you take any longer!"

Rachel was suddenly very nervous. Finn probably would never make-out with her if she kicked his teeth out,

"I'd just like to apologize in advance, because I think that- given your current position- it's very probable I'll kick you in the face."

"Rachel, stop wasting time! If I don't get my sausage and egg McGriddle you'll be bringing me one everyday for a week at school!"

"OK!" She shouted shakily, "Here I come!"

Out of habit she squeezed her eyes shut and, before she could think about it, she was running towards him in a very dewy field. Rachel was so worried about kicking Finn, she miss-calculated the distance to the ball. When she swung her foot out, she was short by about two feet.

The momentum of her right leg pulled her left leg out from under her, and before she knew it, Rachel had landed flat on her ass right in front of the biggest crush of her high school career.

There was a long moment of eerie silence, before Finn let out a feeble "You, OK?"

Rachel slowly opened her eyes as she felt the blush flood her normally golden complexion, "Ow." She groaned in humiliation.

"Wow." Finn said, parroting her from earlier that morning.

"It's fine, Finn. You can laugh. Get it over with so I can retreat with some dignity intact."

"No, it's not that," He answered, walking over to help Rachel up with a devilish smile concealed poorly, "I was just thinking you had a lot of power behind that kick."

"Really?" She asked, hopefully taking his hand as he pulled her up gently.

"Yeah! It needs some work though. I don't know if I told you this or not, but the point of this exercise is to actually move the _ball_, not just the atmosphere around it."

"FINN!" She yelled, releasing her lingering hand from his grasp, "I told you to spare my dignity!"

"Oh, I will Rachel. I promise I'll only tell Mercedes, Tina and Kurt. Puck, Artie and Mr. Schue will _never_ know."

Rachel took this opportunity to give Finn a well deserved whack in the arm, "Finn Hudson, I swear to Abraham-"

"Kidding! I'm just kidding! I won't tell anyone. That's a promise. But you need to keep up your end of the bargain..."

"Fine, I'll buy you a McGriddle, but you're driving!"

"Deal." Finn answered, holding his hand out for a truce. Rachel couldn't help but smile, she extended her hand out, but Finn ignored it, and instead threw his arm around her neck and pulled her in for a very affectionate one armed hug.

Rachel couldn't help but giggle into his chest. This was nice. If he never fell in love with her, Rachel thought maybe this would be enough.

"Come on, cowboy," She said, sliding out of Finn's hug to pull him towards the car by the wrist, "My ass is soaked with dew, and I haven't had my coffee yet- We're approaching DEFCON 5."

"Lead the way!" He said with a chuckle.

-

END

-

**A/N2:** I'll set you up with Puck and/or Finn if you leave me a review :D

PS: Did anybody catch the little bit of Lea love I threw in there? I'll give you an imaginary cookie if you know what it is ;D


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